welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Friday, October 19, 2012

prevent it, happy birthday

Walk to End Alzheimers
we are walking in the bell county/temple 
walk to end alzheimers on saturday november 3 2012

you can walk free but a donation to and or joining
my organicgreendoctor team is appreciated

join us there

PREVENT IT
you can prevent it you know
this vascular dementia
doing the things we do to prevent heart attacks

control your blood pressure
control your lipids your cholesterols your triglycerides
control your diabetes
dont smoke
dont drink to excess
eat a healthy diet
maintain a normal weight

dementia is cognitive impairment and results in problems with memory
thinking and reasoning

(i have early mild cognitive impairment amnestic type
-cant remember s&^%-
that is possibly due to alzheimers disease and
that is mostly not noticeable to anyone but can be documented on
neuropsychological testing
i notice it though)

dementia has many causes but the most common is alzheimers disease
with vascular dementia causing about 20% of dementias
there is an overlay that can occur with alzheimers disease and
vascular dementia
its called combined dementia or mixed dementia
the older you are the more likely you are to get it

my mother had alzheimers disease but also had a component of
vascular dementia
as she had several small strokes and tias (transit ischemic attacks)
her confusion facial weakness arm weakness difficulty talking would
appear then over a few days would resolve some

it seemed with her each episode just added to the demise of her
cognition and was sped up by the progression of the alzheimers
diesease


what happens with vascular dementia is that a vessel will burst
either large small or real tiny or atherosclerosis the clogging of the
vessel with debri or a clot will form in the vessel and  will damage
the surrounding brain tissue some of it permanent and
will chip away at the brains functioning much
as alzheimers disease does as the nerve cells are damaged by the
process that occurs in alzheimers
the theory now is that beta amyloid is deposited and is the
cause of the damage or the end result of whatever the
alzheimers process is

combine the two dementias together and you can a
devastating progression of symptoms

the older you get the more likely the dementia is the combo
or mixed variety

so
if you are young and its in your family
you need to be doing those things mentioned above to slow
down or prevent this dementia

nows the time to do something
yes im talking to you

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
today is the birthday of my younger brothers wife

she deserves to have a happy birthday today

she may see my brother today
he may or may not remember probably not that its her day
as he has alzheimers disease and has had to be placed
in a long term care facility to provide the special care
he needs

i can only describe her as remarkable
as she is having to deal with this in her life
but she has shown her ability to deal with this
at least to the outside world
im sure in her private moments its difficult

i know in my private moments i can have a temporary
decomposition that can occur and mine is nowhere
near what she has to deal with

she always has done whats best for my brother as
the disease has progressed

so today i want to wish her a happy birthday
its her day and i hope she can enjoy it
you are really doing a good job
we are all proud of you
and are always thinking of you

the organicgreen doctor

2 comments:

  1. Thank You my brother-in-law. You all are also in my thoughts and prayers. I love your brother with all my heart, and all of his family I appreciate all the prayers and support from all of them. Hopefully there will be a cure in the near future for our future generations. I would also recommend to everyone to invest in long term care insurance when you ar young. love you dewayne

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    Replies
    1. hope you had a happy birthday
      we are always thinking of you
      yes i was lucky to have gotten my long term care insurance before my diagnosis was made otherwise i would not have been able to get coverage

      yes we are hoping for a cure or for some treatment to slow this disease down for our future generations
      togd

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